When playing Dungeons & Dragons, there are many ways to approach combat with your character. Ranged vs. Flash, Spellcasting, or Melee — There are many different ways to damage your enemies regardless of your playstyle.
One addition to D&D that you can add to your game is firearms. Whether your GM allows firearms and similar explosive propulsion weapons is up to them, but it can add interesting extra technology to your fantasy world. If your GM allows them, you might start to wonder what classes are best suited to carry them?
6 a barbarian
Barbarians are already going big in the worlds of D&D. It might be a combat-heavy class, but in that case, adding firearms isn’t a very good thing.
Firearms (in most gun ranges anyway) aren’t light. Knowing this, Barbarians can be a good choice for carrying larger support weapons. There are optional Artificer builds that allow the class to build cannons and similar area-of-effect weapons. Talk to your GM about possibly crafting a similar large firearm for your barbarian.
They will almost certainly have the power to do so; in addition, it could be an additional and powerful elevated option for a class where ranged combat is probably not an advantage. It might not help your rage mechanic, but a barbarian with a cannon or even a gatling gun-like weapon would be a powerful addition to any party list.
5 Ranger
A class that focuses on ranged combat wouldn’t hurt to have an option with solid range and impressive power. Bow and arrows may be the bread and butter of the ranger class, but a little variety isn’t a bad thing. A shotgun or similar long-range firearm can be an incredible tool in the hands of a warden.
If you go this route, touch bases with your GM to make sure ranger class traits that add bonuses to ranged combat also count as firearms. It may not be the most weapon-centric in nature, but you can certainly add some flavor to allowing your controller to use firearms in the game.
4 A fighter
Take a martial arts class. A walking arsenal of weapons that has mastered ranged techniques. Why not a gun too? A fighter has many skills that could allow impressive use of firearms. Archery or two-weapon fighting in particular could add a powerful bonus to your attacks.
The second wind and action wave could allow more shots fired per round or at least room to reload without using up too many valuable actions in combat. You can even use your indomitable skill to re-spin a misfire even on some firearms that always seem to pop up at the worst possible times. A firearms fighter is a character that will seem to be almost at ease on the battlefield.
3 A thief
Since the rogue is a stealth class, it might not seem like a good idea to carry a firearm, but sometimes it pays to be loud. Stealth may be a scammer’s priority, but it never hurts to have a backup in case you get caught somewhere you shouldn’t be. For those moments, you can’t get much more one-hit power than a firearm. Just make sure you have an escape route in mind.
Dagger and pistol are a good idea for most combat situations that can easily be supported by two-weapon combat. But for assassins, you can check out the full size shotgun and talk to your GM about modifications. Who knows, maybe a friendly inventor will be willing to make you binoculars or even a silencer.
2 Artificer
D&D’s great inventor class, who else would you trust to craft a firearm? Gunpowder can be dangerous to experiment with, but if used correctly, it can yield some impressive weapons. As with many firearms-based things in D&D, talk to your GM about the limits of how far he wants to push the technology in your game.
Once you know your limits, Masters are the class to craft a new firearm. You may even be able to lower the vessel enough to give it to each of your team members, or perhaps even imbue them with powerful arcane effects. Who says technology and magic can’t go hand in hand.
1 Sagittarius
A class made for firearms only. This is role-critical content, and given that it doesn’t belong in the core rulebooks, it might be best to get permission before diving into making a shooter.
If you want to play D&D with an emphasis on firearms, you can’t get better than this class. The skills and abilities you gain in each level are fine-tuned to make your firearm work better for you and become more and more unforgiving on your enemy.
The grain points and included table of firearm options make for a class that any player can easily dive into, and it also surprisingly allows for a variety of different gameplay types based on range and skill set.